Engine failure leads to car swap

A rapid-fire car change has seen M Motorsport/Vantage Racing switch cars for the 2023 LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour.

An engine failure in the team’s Invitational Class KTM X-Bow GT2 in Practice 2 saw the car forced out of the event.

Rather than withdrawing, the team has leased Melbourne Performance Centre’s spare Audi R8 LMS.

The team prepared the car to run in Friday’s fourth and final practice session on Friday afternoon.

"We came this far, and I was heartbroken when the car failed coming out of Turn 2," Vantage Racing’s David Crampton explained.

"We’ve come this far, spent the money and a huge amount of effort to get to this point so we weren’t about to pack up.

The stricken KTM

"We’ve leased this car from MPC and we’ll get in the race, whatever we do."

The team sought and received dispensation from event organisers to switch vehicles, which was immediately granted.

The replacement Audi R8 LMS will now be entered in the Silver class, with the entry 21st in the truncated Practice 4.

The change also forced a change to the driver roster regarding Jayden Ojeda.

Ojeda was forced out of the four-driver squad due to his driver rating not fitting the requirements for the class.

It leaves Crampton to be joined by Glenn Wood and Trent Harrison.

'I’ll still be here supporting the crew'

Ojeda, however, remained in high spirits and will help the team throughout the remainder of the weekend.

"Experiencing all of the highs & lows of motorsport today," Ojeda wrote on Facebook.

"Engine blew in the KTM during practice 2 and with no spare it looked like our weekend had finished.

"We were able to secure an Audi GT3 car to use for the weekend.

"That meant a change in class which meant that our driver line up couldn’t drive together due to our driver rankings being too high.

"With the other boys being OGs and having driven together for years I will sit this weekend out.

"Disappointing but some things are out of your control, I’ll still be here supporting the crew and hopefully they can bring home a strong result."